Something for the weekend

By MARCUS TOWNEND

Last updated at 16:31 18 January 2007

One thing you won't see this weekend is the Champion Hurdler winner running in the Bonusprint.com Champion Hurdle Trial at Haydock on Saturday. But you just might watch one of the gamest racehorses in training - Torkinking.

A galloping ball of enthusiasm and energy, the diminuitive gelding is proving one of the most unlikely success stories in racing.

Torkinking had had a spell in a riding school before Cumbrian trainer Maurice Barnes, most famous as winning jockey in the 1979 Grand National on Rubstic, bought him at Ascot Sales for just 1,300gn in February 2004.

A slice of the prizemoney at Haydock on Saturday will see him sail past the £60,000 mark, a realistic prospect given that not all the 10 entries will line up and prizemoney is offered for the first six.

Three champions have won the Haydock trial — Flakey Dove, Granville Again and Rooster Booster but only mare Flakey Dove did it in the same season that she went on to Cheltenham glory. But Saturday's line-up lacks depth.

There have to be question marks about Nicky Henderson's Christmas Hurdle faller and ante-post favourite Afsoun on the heavy ground and the best may turn out to be Mister McGoldrick, runner-up for the last two years.

He could duel with front-running Torkinking, who, crucially, will have the muddy conditions in which he has posted most of his eight career wins, including at Wetherby last weekend.

Barnes' wife Anne fondly recalls the day Torkinking, now eight years-old, joined the stable and has her own theories why he suddenly flourished.

She said: "We bought two at Ascot that day. One was a big 17 hands and then there was Torkinking. Maurice just liked the look of him. He looked like a pony but he had something about him. A look — well put together but only about 15.2hh.

"He was so small none of the other trainers were interested, especially having no background. He had done nothing, he'd never been on a racecourse.

"We ran him on good ground at Cartmel and he just hated it so Maurice just roughed him off for the summer. So we just put him on our Fell —

we've got an 80 acre Fell. He just roughed it and he loved it.

"They pick up what they need out of the ground and get hardened. They get their immunity built up. We believe in that and it seemed to work. When he came back into work he had matured, although he hadn't grown much. He'd strengthened up."

That improvement was translated into four consecutive wins in early 2005 and five in the year in all.

Anne added: "Maurice was always confident about him. He always wanted to do it, never shrugged work. Some of them don't want to do it.

I don't think he likes other runners coming past him. But that's a racehorse isn't it?

"We all want him to win because he seems to get such a buzz out of it. He comes into the winner's enclosure and he grows about a foot.

When he won at Wetherby he came covered in mud up to his knees but you wouldn't have thought he had had a race."

The latest win has resulted in a 9lb rise from the handicapper. In all Torkinking has risen 69lb since November 2004.

He was seemingly put in his place when only seventh on nine to Straw Bear in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle in November but the opposition he could face on Saturday means he is no forlorn hope.

Last year's Irish-trained winner Al Eile is not going to run, while the heavy ground seems likely to rule out Arcalis. Overstand has alternative options at Ascot the same day. It looks like a race that could cut up.

Anne Barnes is hoping for the best. She added: 'Some of the entries haven't gone on that heavy ground and they have got to stay on it. He's won at Haydock so we know he can handle the track.

"I think Maurice would think he is probably in better form than when he ran in the Fighting Fifth, although he likes to think he was pretty straight for that. Maybe the ground wasn't just quite soft enough at Newcastle."

A high-class card at Haydock also features the Peter Marsh Chase where Nicky Richards' Turpin Green, who ran deplorably when fancied for the Hennessy Gold Cup in November, attempts to get his season back on track.

Don't forget he beat Exotic Dancer, winner of two big handicaps at Cheltenham in the autumn and runner-up in the King George VI Chase, on his seasonal return.

Facing him could be Grand National hope Ossmoses.

Watch out for Dictum if he runs in the novice chase. Conditions will perfect for this mudlark.

Down at Ascot, Arthur Moore's Irish raider Mansony is joint favourite for the Victor Chandler Chase with Paul Nicholls' Santsaire, who won on his debut for the champion trainer's stable at Newbury.

Off bottom weight and with Ruby Walsh up, he still looks potentially well handicapped for this big prize.

The Nicholls' horses at Wincanton are also worth watching with Connaught, the stable's sponsors, backing the meeting. Last season Paul won six races on this card.

He can only be represented in four this time but it will be a suprise if he can't win at least one — maybe in the novice hurdle which he has won for the last four seasons. His entries are Breedsbreeze and Otto Des Pictons.